Joseph Silverman/The Washington TimesAmerican's Derrick Mercer, sailing past Lafayette's Michael Gruner in a game earlier this month, will be the first person in his family to graduate college.

PHILADELPHIA -- He protected his son from the drug dealers who hung around on their Jersey City block, and made sure the gang members knew better than to mess with his kid.

He worked the day shift as a grammar school security guard and the night shift at warehouses and even a White Castle, saving every nickel to pay for the tuition at St. Anthony so his son could learn from the best.

Derrick Mercer Sr. did it all so the point guard who shares his name could have his moment, under the brightest lights in college basketball, playing the biggest game of his life in the NCAA Tournament.

He doesn't expect a pat on the back, but he does expect one thing as payback: He wants to be there this spring when Derrick Mercer Jr. walks across a stage to receive his diploma from American University. That, he said, will be his moment.

"Don't get me wrong -- I'm glad he made the tournament again," Mercer Sr. said Wednesday. "But he's the first person in his family to graduate college. That's the big accomplishment. That matters the most."

American, the 14th seed in the East Regional, is a 16.5-point underdog against Big East power Villanova, a role that is nothing new to the Mercer family.

Derrick Mercer Sr. remembers everyone telling him not to send his son to St. Anthony, how the kid would never get off the bench. His son won a state championship in 2004, starting every game from his sophomore year.

Then the college scouts tried to tell him that, at 5-foot-7, his son was not a Division 1 player. Derrick Mercer Jr. has started all but two games in his four-year college career, and after leading the Eagles to a 24-7 record, was named the Patriot League MVP this month.

He has his eyes on a pro career now, and his father figures he'll prove his doubters wrong again, that he'll prove his favorite saying to be correct: "It's not about the height, it's about the heart." But all along, Derrick Mercer Sr. never let his son forget what mattered most.

There is a powerful scene in the book "Miracle of St. Anthony" when the head coach of the Jersey City dynasty, Bob Hurley, calls the father with the news: His son had his first scholarship offer.

College was paid for.

"Stop lying! Stop lying!" Derrick Mercer Sr. said, the tears flowing from his cheeks. His son, who had never seen him cry before, had expected to get more than just one offer and eventually did. But for the father, the first was the sweetest. It meant his son was on his way.

Hurley still remembers that conversation, but for another reason: He had called countless parents or guardians over his nearly four decades as a coach with news about a scholarship offer. Rarely would he call a father, because usually the father was not in the picture.

"I couldn't tell you how many times I've called a male in my years at St. Anthony to tell him about a scholarship offer," Hurley said. "It's usually a mother or a grandmother, and you have to explain what that is. He was the exception. He was always there for Derrick."

Mercer Sr. was always there because he wanted his son to have something he never had.

He was a basketball player, too, as a kid in Jersey City. "My father loved me, don't get me wrong, but he wasn't there for me," Mercer Sr. said. "When I used to play high school basketball, I wanted my father and mother there, but I never had anybody up in the stands to watch me.

"I said to myself, 'If my son plays basketball, I'm going to be there,'" he said. "I don't care when it is. I don't care where it is. I'm going to be there when he looks up in the stands."

So Mercer Sr. missed just three games this season, home or away, joking with his son that he draws the line at road trips to Colgate. The routine is usually the same: He'll leave his job at School No. 6 a few hours early, make the four-hour drive to the American campus in Washington, then drive back.

He would usually get home at 3 a.m. only to wake up a few hours later to head back into work.

Derrick Mercer Jr. noticed. He had a son of his own his freshman year and, unhappy with the early struggles at American, considered transferring back to a school closer to home. His father helped convince him to stay, bringing his grandson along with him on his visits.

Julius Isaiah -- yes, he is named for the two basketball stars -- will turn 3 on Saturday. Mercer Jr. is proud that he'll soon be able to show his son his degree and let him know what's possible.

"My dad used to have me out in the park late at night when everyone was sleeping, trying to make that dream possible," Mercer Jr. said. "Whatever my son wants to do, I'm going to do the same for him."

But first, he'll play the biggest game of his life. Nobody expects American, which stayed close against Tennessee in the first round a year ago until the final minutes, to upset Villanova. Mercer Sr. figures his son has overcome bigger obstacles before in his life.

Whatever happens in his moment under the brightest lights in college basketball, the father knows a bigger moment is coming this spring. A moment that'll make all the sacrifices worthwhile. The only payback he needs.